Linux Operating System Free Full Download All Versions

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Ubuntu Linux is a complete desktop Linux operating system, freely available with both community and professional support. The Ubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Manifesto: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customize and alter their software in whatever way they see fit. "Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others". The Ubuntu Linux Distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.

Click Here : - http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Mandriva Linux (formerly Mandrake linux), is a user-friendly distribution with enormous community support. It is easy to install and the hardware detection features and Disk Partitioning programs are often considered the best in the industry. Mandriva Linux offers all the power of Linux for the beginner in an easy-to-use and pleasant environment. Join those who are discovering Linux as a complete replacement for their previous operating system.

Click Here : - http://www.mandriva.com/en/downloads/

Linux for Advanced User

For the advanced user there are a number of sophisticated distributions which work well on the desktop and as a server. Here our the Hungry Pengiun's choices...

Fedora Mention the word "Linux" and many people will think of the name Red Hat. It is probably the best-known Linux company in the world. In 2003, Red Hat Linux 9 became the last version in the Red Hat Linux product line, however it was was replaced by Fedora a Red Hat sponsored distribution of Linux. Much what goes into Fedora makes its way into Red Hat's enterprise Linux products.

Click Here : - http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

                                 

SUSE Linux is a distribution with a desktop focus. It is easy to use and there is a professional attention to detail. Recently SUSE (now a Novell company) followed Red Hat in making its distribution more community focused. The openSUSE project is a community program sponsored by Novell (http://www.novell.com). Promoting the use of Linux everywhere, openSUSE.org provides free, easy access to the world's most usable Linux distribution, SUSE Linux. The openSUSE project gives Linux developers and enthusiasts everything they need to get started with Linux.

Click Here : -http://software.opensuse.org/122/en

Live linux 

For those who wish to try Linux without having to install it on their hard drive, there exists a number of LIVE CD distributions. They boot directly from the CD and don't install anything on the hard disk. Boot up time is of course slower than with a hard disk, but it is a great way to experiment with Linux. 

Knoppix is a bootable Linux CD with great automatic hardware detection (including support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices) Knoppix can be used as a Linux demo, educational CD or as a rescue system. It has on-the-fly decompression, which means that the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it. 

Click Here : - http://knoppix.net/get.php

MEPIS  Linux is a user-friendly operating system based on Debian Stable that "just works". It runs from your CD/DVD or USB drive so you can use it on your Windows or Mac machines without installing.
MEPIS comes with much of the software most users need, and hundreds of additional open-source programs are just a click away

Click Here : - http://www.mepis.org/mirrors

MINI

Along with the full blown Live CDs like Knoppix and MEPIS there is a collection of mini distirbutions who truly believe that small is beautful. 

Damn Small Linux, a.k.a. DSL is a very versatile 50MB mini desktop oriented Linux distribution. Despite its minuscule size it strives to have a functional and easy to use desktop. DSL include XMMS (for mp3), an FTP client, a web browser, a spreadsheet, an email client, a word-processor and much more. If you like Damn Small Linux you can install it on your hard drive. Because all the applications are small and light it makes a very good choice for older hardware.

 

Click Here : - http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html

Feather Linux is a Linux distribution which runs completely off a CD or a USB pendrive and takes up under 115Mb of space. It is a Knoppix remaster (based on Debian), and tries to include software which most people would use every day on their desktop. 

 

Click Here : - http://featherlinux.berlios.de/download.htm

SERVER

CentOS is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by Red Hat, in other words CentOS is a clone of RHEL. However CentOS conforms fully with the Red Hat's Redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. CentOS is free.

Click Here : - http://www.centos.org/

Another great server version of Linux is Ubantu Server. Ubuntu Server includes what is needed to provide a service, nothing more. This lean, efficient architecture sees more services delivered with less computing power and less resources required. Ubuntu Server is provided free of licensing and subscription fees. The Ubuntu security team provides vital maintenance and security updates for free. 

 

Click Here : - http://www.ubuntu.com/business/server

Compile A Custom Linux Kernel – An Essential Guide

Reference And Courtesy :-   upcomingtechnology

You might question – why compile a custom linux kernel when the distro vendor already provides you with one? The answer is simple, the kernel which ships with your distro is a generic kernel, it means it’s designed to run on any machine on which it’s installed, it supports almost all types of processors, graphic cards, storage devices, wired/wireless networking, etc. As the generic kernel has support for plethora of PC hardware, you might argue that it is better to use a generic kernel instead of custom built kernel, but that’s not the case. A generic kernel has all the features you want, more specifically, your hardware wants, but it also has many features that you may never need. A simple example would be of the processor support, suppose you have an Intel processor the generic kernel will support it but it also has support for AMD processors which is redundant as you will never run the same kernel on an Intel processor and an AMD processor simultaneously. Thus a custom compiled kernel is more suited to your PC requirements and thus is smaller in size. Smaller size means your kernel occupies less space than the generic one but supports all the hardware you have installed in your machine.

To sum it up you might want to compile your custom Linux kernel to/for:

1. Build a kernel customized for your hardware setup
2. Improved performance
3. Learn how kernel works
4. Fun 

Requirements :- 

Kernel sources: These are the source files of the kernel. You will need to compile these source files later. The latest kernel sources can be downloaded from HYPERLINK “http://www.kernel.org/”www.kernel.org.

Build Tools: These are the tools which you will require for compiling the source files. The method to install these tools depend on your distribution.

The packages required on Ubuntu/Linux Mint can be installed be executing the following command in the terminal,

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential kernel-package libncurses5-dev bzip2

On Fedora, execute the following,

sudo yum -y install gcc ncurses-devel

The command begins with a “sudo” because root access is required for installing packages, if you do not have access to the root account then you cannot install these.

Once you have installed the build tools and downloaded the kernel sources you are ready to compile your custom kernel.

The kernel source you have downloaded is in an archive, first you will need to extract the sources. Execute the following command without the ‘quotes’:

tar -xjvf  ‘kernel archive file name’ ’folder in which you want to extract the sources‘

Example, the command with the appropriate paths may look like:

tar -xjvf linux-2.6.25.tar.bz2 /home/casper/kernel/

After the kernel sources are extracted navigate into that directory and create a soft link named “linux”. Some Kernel sources require a path from the linux directory in order to compile, so the soft link needed. Run the following command to make a soft link,

ln -s ‘kernel source folder name’ linux

Example,

ls -s zen-stable linux

Now navigate to the linux directory and execute the following commands:

make clean && make mrproper

These commands clean the directory structure deleting any files from the previous builds.

Configure

Now we are ready to configure our kernel, but we have to choose whether we want to configure the kernel from scratch or use current kernel configuration as a base and develop on it. As we are beginners in the realm of kernel compilation we will stick with the easy method i.e. use the current configuration as a base. The current configuration can be found in “/boot/”.

Run the following command to copy the current configuration into your source folder,

cp /boot/’your config file name’ ‘your kernel source path/linux/.config

Example,

cp config-3.1.5-casper.kernel-v.1.1+ /home/nishikant/kernel/linux/.config

Now we need to compare the old configuration to the new one, so run the following command,

make oldconfig

In the screenshot the command doesn’t give any output because I am current running a custom kernel, but on your PC you might be prompted to select new features that are available.

Now run the following command,

make menuconfig

After executing “make menuconfig” a GUI interface will appear, here you can select the features you want. Say, processor type, cpu schedulers, IO schedulers, filesystem drivers, networking drivers, etc. Once you are done with the customization, select exit and then save the configuration.

Now you have finished customizing the kernel and it’s time to compile. The command to compile the kernel is,

make -j’number of cpu cores+1′

Example,

make -j3 (without spaces in between. Enter 3, if your processor is Intel core2duo)

If your processor supports hyper-threading then the number is twice the number of cpu cores,

Example,

make -j9 on Intel corei7 2600/2600k

The compilation process make take 15 minutes to an hour depending on your PC.

Once the compilation is over (without any errors), you are now ready to install your kernel, to install the kernel execute the following command,

sudo make modules_install install

After the kernel is installed you have to update your bootloader so that you can boot using your kernel.

On Ubuntu/Linux Mint the command is,

sudo update-grub

While on Fedora, run,

su -c ‘grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg’

If you are using a different bootloader instead of grub then the above commands won’t work.

That’s it, you’re done compiling your custom kernel, after you restart your PC you’ll be able to boot into your kernel from the bootloader’s menu.

If your PC won’t boot into your kernel or some drivers don’t work then you can always boot into the generic kernel(that’s why having more than one kernel on your PC is always useful).

If you want to delete the kernel from your PC just delete the following file/directories(root access required):

/boot/’config-kernel name’

Example,

/boot/config-3.1.5-casper.kernel-v.1.1+

Next,

/boot/initrd.img-’kernel name’

Example,

/boot/initrd.img-3.1.5-casper.kernel-v.1.1+

Next,

/boot/vmlinuz-’kernel name’

Example,

 /boot/vmlinuz-3.1.5-casper.kernel-v.1.1

Next,

‘kernel name’ folder in /lib/modules

Example,

3.1.5-casper.kernel-v.1.1+

Finally update your bootloader,

On Ubuntu/Linux Mint the command is,

sudo update-grub

On Fedora run,

su -c ‘grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg’

So, this is it.